CONWAY -- The University of Central Arkansas will use a $20 million matching donation from the Windgate Foundation to help finance construction of a new fine arts center.
UCA President Houston Davis announced the pledge, the largest in the school's 111-year history, during a news conference Tuesday.
Davis called the contribution "a transformative gift" that "will impact this university," the community and the state "for generations to come."
Faculty and staff members, students and other university supporters filled the room for the announcement as a band played and celebrants munched on UCA-purple cookies with "$20M" iced in white.
The university plans to use $19 million to help pay for the 114,000-square-foot facility, to be named the Windgate Center for Fine and Performing Arts. Davis estimated that the center would cost $45 million and said he hopes it will open by the fall of 2022.
The remaining $1 million will go to the Windgate Scholarship Fund, established at UCA in 2005 for full- or part-time students majoring in art. The fund already has given a total of more than $400,000 to 30 students, based on talent and financial need.
UCA intends to launch a roughly six- to eight-month fundraising campaign for matching donations, Davis said. He hopes that effort will lead to more public and private partnerships supporting the university.
The center will be at the corner of Conway's Donaghey Avenue and Bruce Street, serving "as a cornerstone of the campus," the university said in a news release.
The new facility will move more of the art classes closer together, creating "a hub of activity at that corner," said Terry Wright, dean of the College of Fine Arts and Communication.
The center will feature 44,000 square feet of art space; an art gallery; a 450-seat concert hall designed for orchestra, choir, band and ensemble performances; and a proscenium theater. The facility also will provide class, studio, rehearsal and design space, increasing the fine-arts program's capacity and allowing more students to pursue degrees in that field.
Patricia Forgy, executive director of the private Little Rock-based Windgate Foundation, said Windgate chose to give UCA the money in large part because of "the relationship we've had over the last 20 years."
"We've come to know and trust the leadership and the board," she said. As UCA raises funds for the arts center, "we'll match them in dollars," Forgy said.
The Windgate Foundation, based in Little Rock, has provided more than $751 million in grants to institutions throughout the country. Other recipients have included the Arkansas Arts Center in Little Rock, Hendrix College in Conway, the Thea Foundation in North Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock.
More than 250 UCA students either major or minor in art, Davis said, and an additional 750 students major in other fine-arts and communication areas.
"Student enrollment for all departments has remained at capacity for the past decade," Davis said. With this gift, UCA can "help more students earn degrees in art and related disciplines."
Until now, the largest gift in UCA history had been one for $5.6 million in 1996 from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation for the Reynolds Performance Hall.
The performance hall seats roughly 1,200 people, Davis noted, and will continue to serve as host to the university's largest events such as Broadway plays and other productions.
Wright said the gift will "solidify UCA's position as a regional leader of the arts." UCA's accomplishments in that area include the founding of the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre and progress toward All-Steinway school status.
The gift is "going to be transformative," Wright said. "It's going to expand like a galaxy of stars. Only the stars are going to be on the ground."
Seniors Louise Mandumbwa, a painting major from Africa, and Grayson Ruple of Bryant, joined the stage with Davis and others for Tuesday's announcement.
Ruple said he believes the gift "will change the culture of UCA" in that it will help the university attract even more quality art students.
Mandumbwa said the gift reflects that the academic world values the arts.
On how the Snow Fine Arts Center will be used after the center opens, UCA spokesman Amanda Hoelzeman said that plan was still being developed. "But one way it will be used is for film and digital media" she said in a text message. "We'll use it for more soundstage and more production space."
On whether the Baum Gallery will move from McCastlain Hall to the newly planned center, Hoelzeman said it likely would move, "but we're still sorting out" details.
Kale Gobert, UCA's vice president of advancement, said the gift "raises the baseline for UCA."
"It puts us in a different league" and "signals to all that now is the time to invest in UCA," he said.
A Section on 01/23/2019